Amazon FREE Non-fiction Ebooks, (Wednesday, Jan. 2)

Locally Grown: Portraits of Artisanal Farms from America’s Heartland

Anna H. Blessing

Price: FREE

Anna’s ideas and creativity always live to their potential and this book is a brilliant account of her innovative thinking. The hard work of these farmers is graciously exposed in writing and complimented with delicious, fresh recipes and lovely photographs taken by Anna herself. Locally Grown was extremely promising right from the beginning! Brava!

Alexa

This beautiful new book by 30-year-old writer and photographer Anna H. Blessing introduces readers to the story of the modern heartland farm. The book explores how sustainable practices – and close ties to high-profile chefs and restauranteurs – have propelled the “locally grown” culinary movement into a central feature of life in major cities like Chicago. Blessing lays out the rich histories of 25 midwestern farms through beautiful photography, fascinating anecdotes from farmers and chefs, and up-close looks at what makes each farm so unique.

Interest in sustainable farming has been growing rapidly across the country and around the world, emphasizing locally produced and grown foods in place of the mass-marketed offerings from corporate consortia. When inhabitants of major cities choose to purchase food raised in nearby farms, they not only support vital satellite economies, but also improve the social and ecological quality of life along with the environmental sustainability of the world around them.

Now there are also innumerable top-tier dining establishments, led by esteemed chefs like Charlie Trotter and Paul Kahan, who scour farmers markets for natural ingredients and develop personal business relationships with small-time farmers to supply their restaurants with the best and most sustainable foods. Locally Grown shows how both long-standing and newly founded farms, along with urban farms and metropolitan nonprofit organizations like Growing Power and City Provisions, are boosting the sustainable food movement throughout Chicago and its neighborhoods.

Each chapter profiles a different farm, outlining locale, scale, production, and inner workings while also revealing the captivating backgrounds of each farmer. Blessing shows how each farm and farmer are making efforts to improve sustainability, and describes the behind-the-scenes practices that have made locally grown food an increasingly important part of America’s food culture.

Contributions from each farmer, and from chefs they work with, are included in every chapter, lending an intimate feel to Locally Grown – recipes, how-to’s and Q&As that together create a riveting account of the rapidly changing world of modern farming.

Beyond profiling these Midwest farms, Locally Grown points out the best places to find, buy, and eat sustainably grown foods, as well as details on visiting the farms.

NOTE: Please check the price before downloading; the price is subject to change.

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Smoothie Power! Recipes for Weight Loss, Vitality, & the Occasional Super Power

Diane Kidman

Price: FREE

This may be Diane Kidman’s best book to date! I always look forward to what she will write about next, but I have to admit, the idea of green smoothies did not seem appealing to me at all. A drink with fruits and greens combined? BUT, after reading this informative and witty book, I am ready to take the plunge. Diane lays out the process of getting started in a way that suits my sweet tooth. That works for a “newbie” like me.

J. Sipe

What if, by simply drinking a delicious green smoothie each day, you could rewire your tastebuds to enjoy the healthiest foods? What if you were able to lose weight, gain energy, and reverse health conditions, even if you’ve had them for decades? Countless people have discovered the power of the green smoothie. In “Smoothie Power!” Diane Kidman shares her own story of how green smoothies gave her energy and provided unexpected relief from asthma. She also gives you over 100 smoothie recipes to start you on your transformation. And when you start craving even more healthy goodness, you’ll love her soup and salad recipes.

Enjoy sweet green smoothies, tropical smoothies, refreshing and savory combinations, even dessert versions like Diane’s favorite Chocolate Covered Cherry smoothie. The best part? They’re all healthy, nutrient rich, and guilt free!

NOTE: Please check the price before downloading; the price is subject to change.

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The Ninja Blender Handbook: 50 Fast and Easy Recipes

Angela Brobst

Price: FREE

This book is filled with delicious and healthy recipes for the Ninja Blender. There are many great original recipes I would have never thought to make on my own in my Ninja Pulse blender. This is the perfect book for expanding your blending horizons beyond traditional smoothies. In addition to all the tasty recipes it includes detailed nutritional information and helpful tips and tricks as an added bonus not found in typical recipe books. Highly recommended.

lucky lily

Written by the author of Test Kitchen Tuesday, this first edition Ninja Blender Handbook contains 50 recipes and countless tips to make the most of your Ninja Professional Blender, Ninja Kitchen System, Ninja Mega Kitchen System, or Ninja Pulse.

Written with a health-conscious lifestyle in mind, all of the “real food” recipes include Ninja-specific step-by-step instructions (including jar and blade recommendations), as well as detailed nutritional information, when appropriate.

In addition to recipes, the book includes directions for making kitchen staples such as nut butters and various flours, as well as a dedicated section on juicing, and a troubleshooting and FAQs section.

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Mind Maps: Improve Memory, Concentration, Communication, Organization, Creativity, and Time Management

Ken Arthur

Price: FREE

“Mind Maps” pulls out all the stops. It gives you an abundance of suggestions on its numerous uses and practices. Even if you are not interested in or care for learning about mind maps, I propose reading through this book at least once as it can help you be more efficient in understanding, learning, and processing information.

Ross S.

This is a comprehensive guide to learning about a wonderful technique called mind maps.

Mind maps are an amazing organizational and creativity tool that can improve memory, concentration, communication, organization, creativity, and time management.

This book is the ultimate resource on the topic of mind maps. In a short time, it can enhance your skills in reading, writing, learning, note taking, brainstorming, planning, productivity, and so much more.

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Written Together: A Story of Beginnings, in the Kitchen and Beyond

Shanna Mallon

Price: FREE

Shanna writes with the voice of an old soul who knows profoundly the depth of love, passion, desire, in life AND in meals. I suspect she is soft-spoken, generous of spirit, loyal, and above all talented beyond her knowing. “Written Together” is a lovely vignette that warms your heart and gives promise that beauty in our world, indeed, continues to flourish.

Paula L. Boudreau

A year into her Chicago-area office job, Shanna Mallon realized that the thing she enjoyed most about her new real estate marketing career wasn’t the copywriting; it was choosing what to order for lunch each day. So in August 2008, she started her blog, Food Loves Writing, partly to escape her boring cubicle and partly as homage to her grandma, the woman who had taught her how to bake and, who had died exactly nine years earlier, to the day.

Armed with a love of eating but little knowledge of what to do with it, she poured herself into restaurant reviews, family stories, failed attempts at pumpkin pies. She told readers about a childhood of baking cookies with her grandma and of a hunger in her heart that reached deeper than food. Over time, what began as a fun distraction soon blossomed into a rich community – and through the blog, she finds herself, today, living a completely different lifestyle of eating whole, natural foods; residing in Nashville, Tennessee; and, mostly, sharing it all with the love of her life, her now-husband, Tim, whom she first met in an email.

In Written Together: A Story of Beginnings, in the Kitchen and Beyond, Mallon tells the story of a twenty-something girl longing for change but afraid of it, the story of a girl learning to trust—and along the way, she shares the recipes she’s using, from homemade orange basil creamsicles to grass-fed meatballs to pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

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